Hair straightening device



NOV. 1959 A. P. TREADAWAY 2,910,938

HAIR STRAIGHTENING DEVICE Filed Feb. 1, 1956 INVENTOR ANNE P. TREADAWAYATTORNEYS 1 2,910,988 HAIR STRAIGHTENING DEVICE Anne P. Treadaway,Oyster Bay, N.Y. Application February 1, 1956, Serial No. 562,791

1 Claim. (Cl. 132-31) This invention relates to an apparatus forstraightening hair, particularly kinky, growing human hair, and theprincipal object of the invention is to provide an apparatus or deviceby means of which a person with kinky hair can straighten her or hishair, as the case may be, in a short time, with little labor and in suchmanner that the hair, without applied ointments of any kind, will remainsubstantially straight for several Weeks.

A further object of the invention is to provide an apparatus for thepurpose described which can be successfully employed without previousskill or experience, and Without expense, save the initial cost of asingle piece or" simple apparatus.

More specifically, the invention contemplates a device for straighteninghair which includes a pair of cooperating heating rollers carried at theends of a pair of pivoted arms or tong members with the axes of therollers being nited States Patent offset from the handles at an angle ofabout 45 so that V the device can more conveniently and more efrectivelybe held in proper position when engaging the hair close to ones headduring use.

in the accompanying drawings I have illustrated the apparatus and itsmanner of use, and in the said drawmgs:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view showing my improved apshown are of angularconfiguration and with the pivot d of the tongs parallel to the pins b,b whereby when the tongs are opened and closed the rollers move towardand away from each other with their axes parallel.

The ends e, e of the tong members 0, c are shaped to be readily graspedwith one hand and when squeezed together will bring the rollers a, ainto contact with each other throughout their entire length. As will benoted, the ends 2, e are bent away from the pins b, b, or the portionsof the arms which carry the rollers a, a so that such portions of thearms extend at an angle of the order of 45 to a common plane passingthrough the axes of the handles. With the rollers extending at such anangle to the handles, the rollers can more readily be held in properposition, particularly when engaging the hair close to a persons head.Thus when the rollers are to engage the hair close to the top of thehead, the device will be held so that the angle subtended by the rollersand the handles will be at the side of the device adjacent the head. Onthe other hand, when the rollers are to engage the hair closed to thesides of the head, the rollers can better and more conveniently be heldin proper position close to thee head by turning the device over sothatthe angle subtended by the rollers and the handles is at the side ofthe device remote from the head, with the handles extending away fromthe sides of the face at a substantial angle. In each case, the devicewill be held so that the hand grasping the device will not interferewith the lock of hair being straightened.

The rollers a, a are heated when used. If of solid metal as shown, theymay be heated by an alcohol flame or any other suitable source such asemployed for the Patented Nov. 3, 1959 conventional curling tongs. Therollers also may be internally heated as indicated, for example, in Fig.2 by electric resistance wires 1, f.

In straightening hair with the improved device the hair is combed into athin, flat lock as long as possible and with an average thickness offour or five hairs. With the rollers heated to the desired temperature,for example 350 E, the lock of hair is gripped between the rollers nearthe scalp and the device moved slowly away from the head in a directionto apply substantially the same pull to the hair across the width of thelock. When the rollers are far enough from the head the hair may begrasped between the rollers and the scalp and held against-the pull ofthe rollers during the rest of their movement to the end of the lock.The operation is repeated on each lock of hair until it remains as alock substantially straight in waves, if the hair is long enough to bewaved. 7

After all the hair to be straightened has been separated into locks andtreated as described the locks may be combed out, beginning with thefirst locks to be straightened. This allows sufiicient time for theindividual hairs to set while still held by the other hairs making upthe lock. The degree to which the hair is straightened depends to asubstantial extent on the preparation of the locks to which the heatedrollers are applied. The lock should not be too thick and should be wellcombed out so that the heat and pressure will flatten the hair into theplane of movement of the adjacent faces of the rollers. After the hairis relieved of the tension applied by the pull of the rollers it tendsto resume its kink but if held until cooled to normal temperature itwill remain substantially straight. If the locks are of the thicknessdescribed above, which may be varied with experience depending on thetype of hair, the hairs mutually resist curling in any particulardirection because each tends to resume its own kink and consequently ifthe straightened locks are not combed out until set, the straighteningwill last for several weeks.

In the foregoing description the device of the invention has beendescribed as particularly adapted for self treatment, but it mayobviously be employed by barbers and I hair dressers with equaladvantage. In fact, an experienced barber or hair dresser can straightenthe average head of kinky hair in twenty or thirty minutes. The rollerspermit the hair to be gripped tightly but without subjecting the scalpto painful pulls during the straightening operation, and the oil-sethandles greatly facilitate the operation, particularly by enabling therollers conveniently to be held in proper position when engaging hairclose to the head and in shifting the device from lockto lock.

I claim:

In a device of the class described, a pair of crossed arms pivotedtogether at a point intermediate their length, handles on the ends ofthe arms at one side of the pivot, the arms on the opposite side of thepivot having portions extending at an angle of the order of 45 to acommon plane passing through the axes of the handles, the axes of saidportions of the arms being parallel, heat-retaining rollers mounted onsaid portions of the arms, electric heating elements positioned axiallywithin said rollers, and conductors for said electric-heater elements.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,014,952 Cox Jan. 16, 1912 1,382,568 Swan June 21, 1921 1,845,208Tankins Feb. 16, 1932 FOREIGN PATENTS 270,437 Germany Feb. 14, 1914345,148 Germany Dec. 6, 1921

